Video: Rassie Erasmus makes a mockery of ‘that’ England tackle

Tackles are a pretty important element of any rugby match, and if you get it wrong, you could injure your opponent pretty badly.

This weekend, in a narrow victory for England over the Spingboks in London, the former’s Owen Farrell landed a controversial tackle on the Springbok’s André Esterhuizen in the dying minutes of the game.

Esterhuizen was knocked to the ground, England recovered the ball, and then kicked it into touch, ending the match 12-11 in its favour.

And while the Springboks asked the Australian referee Angus Gardner to review his decision, he found no fault.

So of course it would be hilarious when the Springbok’s coach Rassie Erasmus ran sassy tackling drills with Esterhuizen this week.

The clip above, posted by SA Rugby Magazine, progresses from the correctly landed tackle technique, which includes wrapping the arm around the opponent while following through with the shoulder, to the slightly suspect shoulder-slam.

Twitter loved it, and the clip was shared across multiple accounts in a matter of hours on Tuesday morning.

“Rassie Erasmus is the ultimate troll. Cant think he is serious but he is making a point here,” wrote one user.

@Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus is the ultimate troll. Cant think he is serious but he is making a point here. Video was sent to me. Shows how ludicrous the decision was again… if coaches have to coach that way….
And the silence from @worldrugby is deafening pic.twitter.com/Mm20KfcKsP

Author | Andy Walker: Editor

Camper by day, run-and-gunner by night, Andy prefers his toast like his coffee -- dark and crunchy. Specialising in spotting the next big Instagram cat star, Andy also dabbles in smartphone, gadget and game reviews over on Gearburn. More